When math feels slow, frustrating, and full of one step forward, two steps back, the issue may not be ability so much as fluency. Math is like learning to read. A traditional math curriculum relies on rote memorization, similar to some older reading programs, which teach students to memorize sight words rather than decode letter sounds. Memorization can provide a quick win because students learn to match memorized answers to math facts or to read by recognizing sight words.

Children with dyslexia can learn to read, but they usually need reading instruction that is explicit, systematic, cumulative, and mastery-based. Start with phonemic awareness and letter sounds, teach phonics in a logical sequence, provide plenty of review, and give your child reading practice that matches the skills you have already taught.

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This month you can enter to win the All About Reading Color Edition level of your choice, which includes the Teacher’s Manual, Student Packet, and readers! If you haven’t used AAR before, we’ll also include Letter Tiles and a Reading Review Box to make sure you’ve got everything you need to succeed!

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Homeschooling a child with Down syndrome is about balance. It’s about challenges and potential. Homeschooling can support growth and provide unique opportunities to address difficulties. Growth happens. It unfolds at its own pace, and many times, there are seeds of potential sprouting that you didn’t know were there until the flower blooms. When parents hold expectations loosely and focus instead on nurturing the gifts and talents that appear, homeschooling can become an experience of joyful discovery.

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This month you can enter to win the All About Math level of your choice. If you haven’t used AAM before, we’ll also include an All About Math Manipulatives Kit to make sure you’ve got everything you need to succeed!

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There’s something special about the fresh start of a new homeschool year. New supplies. A clean planner. The hopeful feeling that this year, everything will click. Whether you’re a seasoned homeschooler or just getting started with homeschooling, still figuring out your rhythm, back-to-school season is a chance to reset, refocus, and come back to the table with renewed energy for both you and your child.

Homeschooling while working is a difficult but rewarding choice. For many parents, it feels impossible because they can’t fit the mold of a stereotypical homeschooling family. The vision of a stay-at-home mom, baking bread, raising 5 kids, attending co-op classes, going on field trips, and working together in the huge family garden is more of a fantasy than reality, however. The reality is, there are as many flavors of homeschooling as there are families doing it.

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This month you can win a $100 Gift Certificate that can be used toward your purchase of All About Reading, All About Spelling, All About Math, or any products on the All About Learning Press website.

All About Math Level 5 is the final of five levels in a delightful, multisensory program that carefully builds children’s understanding of how our number system works. This new level builds upon the foundation laid in All About Math Levels 1, 2, 3, and 4, introducing multiplication and division of fractions and decimals, generating and analyzing graphs and coordinate grids, exponents, and much more!

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This month you can enter to win the All About Spelling level of your choice. If you haven’t used AAS before, we’ll also include a Letter Tiles and a Spelling Review Box to make sure you’ve got everything you need to succeed!

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“It wasn’t a matter of my kid not being capable. It was a matter of they just hadn’t had enough repetitions yet. They hadn’t seen it enough. And when they did, it clicked.”

— Katie Waalkes
Homeschool Expert and Creator of Life in the Mundane

Teaching your child to read can feel like a high-stakes, all-or-nothing endeavor. Continue reading…

Reversing numbers is extremely common in young children but can raise concerns for parents, who wonder whether it is a sign of dyslexia. It can be, but by itself, it isn’t a definitive symptom of dyslexia. As we discuss in this article, dyslexia primarily involves the recognition, processing, and use of written language. It’s far more complex than reversing or mixing up letters and numbers. Remember that almost all children under age eight or so may get numbers backwards as they learn to master both the shape and the process of writing that shape.